


Rules

by Haberdasher



Category: Elsewhere University (Webcomic)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-29
Updated: 2018-01-29
Packaged: 2019-03-10 23:28:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13512000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Haberdasher/pseuds/Haberdasher
Summary: A fic about a student who was never good at following rules.





	Rules

The rule was this: Never enter Elsewhere University’s campus on your own.

But she had never been good at following rules.

Candace had been told time and time again not to go to Elsewhere’s campus without her parents in tow. She’d heard horror stories from neighbors about the sort of things that happened on campus- that there were monsters there, that lives got ruined, that some who entered would never return.

Naturally, these stories only made a ten-year-old Candace all the more curious on what might be in store for her there.

Her heart raced as she crossed the highway, stepping foot on forbidden ground, eager to learn all the school’s secrets...

Only to find a bunch of old buildings and some grown-ups who wouldn’t even give her the time of day.

Candace returned home that evening tired and defeated, the mystery that had been hanging over her head replaced with mundanity.

For the time being, anyway.

The rule was this: Get a 3.0 GPA or higher.

But she had never been good at following rules.

Candace hadn’t wanted to attend Elsewhere, not really, not after having lived with it just down the road all her life. But when she threw in an application at her parents’ insistence, they gave her a full ride based on her good grades, and she couldn’t say no to that. So, when she graduated high school, she packed her bags to move... barely out of her own home.

She hadn’t been expecting much.

But Elsewhere turned out to be great for her. Candace- who went by “Neighbor” on campus, and didn’t care if her choice of moniker raised a few eyebrows- became engrossed in student life, joining several clubs, making lifelong friends and priceless memories...

...and not doing the studying that her scholarship depended upon.

Finals were coming up, and she was facing failing grades, losing her scholarship, likely having to transfer...

There had to be another way.

The rule was this: Don’t trust the Gentry.

But she had never been good at following rules.

There was another way.

Candace was slow to pick up on it, thinking at first that students were just echoing the horror stories she’d heard growing up, but eventually she put the pieces together. There really was something strange about Elsewhere University, even if her ten-year-old self hadn’t noticed it way back when.

She learned where to go, and who to ask for, and felt silly all the while but carried on just the same.

Candace just needed to turn a few Ds into As- or Bs, even. That couldn’t cost too much, right?

She could do this. She  _had_  to do this.

The rule was this: Wear iron at all times, line the walls of your dorm room with salt, bathe with vervain and hazel, leave creamer outside your door every night, and never, ever let anyone learn your True Name.

Too late, Candace became good at following rules.


End file.
